Our bikes are the most important parts of our gear that we are carrying. Better said: what is carrying us! So far (I am writing this after 9000 12000 16500km/ 5600 7500 10,000 miles) they have been excellent and we had zero problems.

At Santos, you can custom-build your bike. They produce the most praised travel bike, the Travelmaster series, available in Alu/ChoMo and 26/28 inch wheelsize, in several framesizes.

You can choose framesize, wheelsize, colours (about 26 now!) and almost all parts to suit your taste, functionality wishes or budget. Note that a bike is not just a collection of parts, the good builders of Santos are what have made the difference: the rims are still perfectly straight and no spoke has been broken (after 9000 16,500km).

The most important decisions will be the gear-system and the frame sizes:

The Rohloff internal gearhub

We have chosen for the Rohloff Gearhub. What is that? It means that all the gears are inside the back hub. There are 14 gears, evenly spaced and no derailleur, not in front, nor in the back. See this image for how this looks inside if you manage to open it up (and clean it )

This has the following advantages over a regular say, 3×8 gears Shimano/Campagnolo system with derailleur:

• Though there are ‘only’ 14 gears, all gears can be used and are different, unlike the regular Shimano systems. As you can not use the gears where the chain has to ‘cross’ on a Shimano system and there are many gears that overlap or are very close, effectively the 14 Rohloff gears are the same as the 24 with derailleur
• There is only one grip-shift handle (on the right handle bar usually) 1-14 and you can go from one end to the other in one go if needed. No messing about with one hand shifting forward, the other back and then change everything if you need to go one gear lighter. Just go lighter or heavier, as simple as that.
• You can change gears when standing still. Especially with a heavy loaded bike, this is a huge advantage, as you can shift back in a lighter gear and go after a stop for a traffic light, cow, pothole or cactus.
• The chain never changes position and lasts much longer. We changed the first chains after 7000km (4500miles) only because I was tired of carrying 2 spare chains along, they were not finished by far. We use KMC chains, they are strong.
• There is no ‘loose part’ like a derailleur, that will break off when transported in a plane, bus, train, chicken-truck or whatever. Everything is inside the black box.

The Rohloff system has some disadvantages as well:

• It is more expensive up front. Usually it increases the costs of your bike with about $1000, depending on your alternative. But as they are guaranteed to 100.000km (60.000 miles), in the end you pay less than when replacing your Shimano’s or Campi’s when going the same distances. The Rohloff is cheaper at about 60,000km or more (See the calculations on the Santos site, in Dutch here).
• It is literally a black box. If something breaks, you are screwed and will likely need to replace the entire hub.
• It needs to be broken in. The heavier you are and more power you use, the quicker that goes, usually within 1000km/600miles all runs perfectly.
• It needs maintenance, though not much: every 5000km (3000miles), you need to replace the oil inside the hub. This takes only a few minutes and is very simple though it can be hard to find the Rohloff oil that is needed, you might have to bring it (as we did) or have some sent ahead by your dealer (as we did as well).

I used the system on my previous bike and never want back to the derailleur system again, Rohloff makes life so much easier. No more cleaning or fixing of the derailleur, always easy to find the right gear.

Note that many other bike makers do not use all the advantages as they need a ‘tension’ wheel to keep the chain tight (as there is no derailleur to do so). Santos uses an excentric front axle, which can be changed (turned) easily to keep a worn-in chain at the right tension.

Frame

We use the size 19 inch Aluminium frame, with 26 inch wheels . 26 inch is simply the most used wheel size outside of Europe, and therefore it will be easier to find replacement tires.

Some people recommended against aluminium frames as they might be harder to fix when they break (though note that many of the current ‘steel’ frames might be so specialized that they also cannot be fixed easily). But Robbert from Santos told us: ‘They do not break! And if there is any problem, we will send a new one’. Cool.

Tires

For serious touring cyclists there is only one real brand: Schwalbe. We use the Schwalbe Marathon XR. They are slow tires (not for racing), but so are we. Our main concern is flat and/or worn out tires.

After 9000km (5500 miles), Ivana had 4 flats, I had 2, one in each tire. They still look great. Nuff said.

Other parts:

Brakes: Magura HS33 hydraulic brakes. UPDATE: After 16,000km a metal casing of one of the brakes broke, while in Venezuela. Not sure why it cracked as there was no force, but maybe because of transport (boat/pick-up/truck) of the bikes had hit it repeatedly. Anyway, Magura replied to my email immediately, and had their USA part send a new part by UPS immediately, so about a week later we were good to go. No questions, asked, just excellent customer service and warranty (they said that similar problem had been reported only twice before during many years and hundreds of thousands of brakes sold).

For the rest we have really enjoyed our brakes, only replaced the first set of pads after 16,000km and zero problems with leaking etc. Simply the best.

Racks: front: lowrider Tubus Ergo Cr-mo, back: Santos PackRack (made by Tubus). Tubus are the only real choice for carefree biking. not light, but strong.

Ballhead: Chris King. I am not a bike expert. But if all people who are tell you this is the best, I accept it.

Bracket for crank: SKF (see comments for ballhead)

Cranks: Truvativ Five D single speed

Chain: KMC gold

Pedals: Shimano DX platform. Large and comfortable with boots or sandals, no click system. Note that after 8000km I changed these for dual-SPD pedals from Shimano, to try to improve my foot position, but Ivana still has them.

Handle bars: Trekking multiposition adjustable. + Ergon MP1 supports. We love the Ergon and the butterfly handle bars, but all the adjustable stuff is overkill and waste of weight and money, as we have never adjusted anything anytime.

Fork: TravelMaster Cr-Mo. We could have taken suspension, but decided not too; it can break and will be deadweight. We have a little seatpost suspension instead which works great.

Rims & spokes: travel rims (double, ceramic + Sapim Strong)
Saddle: Brooks B17 leather men.

Seatpost: Ritchey MTB with Cane Creek Short Travel (9cm) suspension.

Front Hub/dynamo: SON+SON (for headlight)

Pump: Topeak Roadmorph alu

Integrated lock, Amsterdam style: Axa Defender

Stands: Pletscher (back) + Low rider front stand

The weather gods did not want us to leave Vancouver, maybe they thought I should rest more. Wind and rain pounded on us when we made our way to the ferries in the Southwestern point of the mainland of Canada. we had taken the monorail East first as the direct route would have led us through the George Massey Tunnel, off limits for cyclists. The shuttle for cyclist had stopped for the season and we did not think that any bus could take our heavy bikes on their frontloading rack. we could not lift them up there anyways

After about 30km through mainly flat and wet land we ended up at the ferry, just in time for a 14.00 departure. It takes about 90 minutes to cross the Strait of Georgia to Vancouver Island, the largest island on the West side of North America.

The Lochside Trail, turning into the Galloping Goose trail later on, starts right outside the ferry terminal and is a great way to see a bit of the island. It is an old rail track, sometimes unpaved, sometimes crossing roads and even wooden trestles but always very scenic for all its 35km. We saw deer along the car-free trail, many flocks of geese and fields full of pumpkins. we enjoyed it so much that we ended up entering in Victoria in the dark…

We stayed 2 nights with our great Warm Showers list hosts, Mark & Cathy. They took us to a nice little Farmer’s market, one of the last of the season. It is nice to see that more young people are supporting the local farmers and eating healthy produce, even though it costs more than the preprocessed and mass-produced ‘food’ from the larger supermarket chains. I feel that our generation (at least a part of it) realizes that we should value fuel for our own system more than that for our cars…

It was nice to walk and cycle around town and into the parks without all the luggage, one of the great advantages of staying with trustworthy hosts. We relaxed near the harbour and did the first real maintenance on our bikes: as we had cycled 5000 km, we had to replace the oil inside our Rohloff back hub. It was very simple: open the screw, inject cleaning oil, cycle for a few minutes, (mainly in 3rd and 5th gear, so you use all parts inside), pull out the cleaning oil and dirt from the hub and inject clean lubricating oil. As easy as changing a tire and we are now good for the next 5000km!

Ivana’s Argentinean flag, on the back of her bike, again proved to be very effective and helpful as we suddenly heard some voice in Spanish behind us. We looked into the friendly faces of Estela and David, who lived nearby and were about to go for lunch, just like us. They wanted to hear more about our trip and invited us for a nice lunch and for an ‘Asado’ the next evening.

So even though we had planned to leave Victoria this day, there was no point trying to head out now, as Ivana was getting excited at the thought of Argentinean-style meat and some Spanish conversations

We ended up staying 2 nights at their place as the thought of another piece of David’s chocolate cake was enough to vaporize any ferry plans that day…

22 October: From Canada to the USA!

Immigration was surprisingly simple when we headed to the ferry the next morning. Just a few short questions and we received our permission to stay 6 months in the US! The ferry ride was nice, our bikes strapped together on the outer deck, together with the bikes of Russ, a friendly cyclist from Bremerton in the Seattle area, and two from German cyclists, also on their way South. We had a nice dinner together in the local Mexican restaurant; the first burritos, I assume many, many more will follow on our trip.. That evening we slept in the attic of Tristan & Julia. Tristan was a friend of a friend of our friend Andy. He had left for Seattle when we arrived but Julia and her cat took us two strangers in her house and made us feel at home. It s still a very pleasant surprise to see how hospitable people can be towards travellers and strangers.

Some biketravellers choose the Western route, but we went East of the Olympic park as we wanted to visit our friend Andy in Seattle. From Port Angeles, we took another very nice biketrail, the Olympic trail, through Sequim. This also followed part of an old rail bed, but also contained some strange loops and short steep hills. It starts near the sea and Ivana urged me to look for otters, as she never saw one before.

‘You have to look for otters, ok? I want to see them!’

‘Ok, how about those 3?’

Just when we she asked me, 3 otters danced through the waters, disappearing in the direction of faraway Mt Baker…

The track continued over autumn leaves and through sunny fields. Unfortunately it stops quite sudden and you have no choice but to choose between busy roads with narrow shoulders. It had been a sunny day and we had enjoyed the quiet parts with its wildlife (bald eagles) and blackberry bushes. The plan was to get to Port Townsend, but darkness was coming to soon and we settled for a garden in Port Hadlock after 75 km of cycling, it felt strange and good to be on the bike again…

23 October: Port Hadlock to Suquamish: About peanut butter & underwater treasures

The roads were quite nice, though not all had shoulders, but traffic was easy. After passing the picturesque town of Port Ludlow, the first challenge was the Hood Canal Bridge, a long and busy metal construction with no real space for cyclists.

Once crossed, we chose the less busy route which took us through the quaint antique town of Port Gamble. A few miles ahead we noticed a small sign “Fresh Peanut Butter!”. We checked it out and found that the small local company roasted organic peanuts and if you wanted some PB, they would make it on the spot. Especially for all biketravellers, he told me his secret recipe:

Very Secret Old Fashioned Peanut Butter recipe:

Ingredients:

- Peanuts

Tools:

- Peanut cruncher

Instructions:

- Fill top of Peanut cruncher with organic peanuts.

- DONOT add preservatives, salt, sugar, oil, or other natural or unnatural substances.

- Switch on machine.

- Collect fresh, tasty and pure peanut butter in jar at bottom end.

Apparently, he was having a hard time selling the delicious peanut butter. Not only because cheap brands filled with sugar, oil and preservative cost less in the supermarkets, but also because many schools are banning students from bringing PB sandwiches. Why? Because of the out-of-control claim culture combined with growing allergies for natural foods. So many children are now developing allergies, and as the lawyers are ready to sue schools for everything they (do not) have, the schools have to be cautious.

It is still not sure why the last decades this has risen so much in first world countries, but scientists suspect that too clean living environments (children can no longer play in the dirt and stuff things in their mouth and hands need to be washed 10 times a day with antibacterial ‘soaps’) the natural immune system gets messed up. Another thought is that the allergy is a result of all the creams (many containing peanut oil) that we are supposed to rub on our children, something that kids in Africa and Asia do not need…

Andy had given us another address to stay; from his friend John Williams, a fellow filmmaker, specialized in underwater photography. John was a very friendly host and it was nice to see some of the amazing footage he shot. It looked like it was taken on far away reefs, but all of it was shot just in the nearby Puget Sound, a strong reminder that beauty can be very near our homes and that we should protect it…

We had noticed that traffic was increasing, and just a few more miles separated us from one of the largest metropolitan areas in the USA: Seattle was waiting for us….

Where are you going?

• The plan is to cycle through America, from the North of Alaska to the South of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Note that America is not the same as the USA. We want to see America and the USA is one country on these two continents.

Straight down?

• Well, straight down is impossible, you would hit water already in Alaska, but even in a straight line is not possible. The fastest route would be more or less straight to Panama, fly or sail to Colombia, then down the west coast of South America, over the PanAmericana.

So how far is that, 16.000km, about 10,000 miles?

• It might be if you could go straight down. We think we will have cycled at least double that distance (about 35000km) as we want to visit every country on the mainland, so including all the small countries on Central America and all the larger countries in South America.

How much do you cycle every day?

• Usually between 50 & 100km, depending on the wind, road surface, health, bike problems, interesting places and people.
• We will not cycle every day, we will take longer rests in interesting places, so our average will likely be around 50km/day or even less.

How long will this trip take?

• We think about 2.5 years, give or take a few months.

Why 2.5 years, why not 2 or 3 years?

• We have to start in Alaskan summer, so July (June is considered Spring, August Fall, the rest is winter in Alaska). As the Southern hemisphere has reversed seasons and we want to arrive in summer as well, we need either 1.5, 2.5 or 3.5 years. 1.5 is too fast, 3.5 a bit slow…

Who & what

Who are you?

• Ivana Coria from Argentina & Harry Kikstra from the Netherlands. you can read some backgrounders and links to our other projects and websites on the about page.

Argentina & The Netherlands? So where did you meet?

• In Tibet. She was cycling from Malaysia to India, I was climbing Mt Everest. We got engaged two years later on the summit of Kilimanjaro, 3 weeks before the start of this cycle trip.

Tibet? Kilimanjaro? Eh, ok. So you like travelling. Where else have you cycled before?

• Ivana has made one very long trip: first around New Zealand, then from Malaysia to India, passing Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, China, Tibet & Nepal on the way. Then she cycled for a month in Turkey and has also cycled in France.
• Together we cycled in Italy for a month.
• I (Harry) was raised in the Netherlands, so was practically born and raised on bicycles. Previously I have not made any very long cycle trips, but have done some shorter touring of 2-3 weeks per trip (Belgium – Normandy – Jersey -England; Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland – Scotland; Amsterdam – Zermatt on a tandem).

What bicycles do you use?

• We ride on the perfect travel bike: Dutch made to order Santos Travel master, aluminium frame, 26″ wheels. Tubus racks and Ortlieb bags see for more details the gear pages.

Website:

How does this website work?

• well you found the FAQ, so you seem to have some idea already. On the homepage you see 4 tabs with a photo and shortcuts to the last 4 posts.
• You can check older trip reports in may ways: check archives, trip reports, search for words, browse by categories (the second/lower top menu) or use the tags system, which is a bit more detailed than the categories.
• You can contact us through the contact form and we love feedback on our posts, so please leave some comments when you read the posts. You will be asked to verify that you are a human being (and not a spam robot) by typing some random code. Though this might be difficult and annoying, it saves us hours of time and helps to control spam.

Will you write reports every day?

• We will try but already know that it will not be possible as we will be too tired, to grumpy, too out of battery power, or too far away from any internet connection. So likely we will write in batches, whenever we have a few hours or day off and post them when needed.

So do I need to check every day to see if you updated something?

• No, you can make it much easier to follow us: either add our RSS feed to your feed reader, so you get a notice when a new feed is available
• If you have no idea what RSS is, just subscribe to our mailinglist and get a maximum of one email every day new updates are posted. You can do this on every page, see the box at the right side, near the top of the page or just click here.

Why does http://WorldOnABike.com change to http://worldonabike.com ?

• World On A Bike .com is just easier to remember and to tell people. It automatically forwards to the real website which is located at harry.biketravellers.com. On http://BikeTravellers.com everybody that cycles can open a free weblog (yourname.biketravellers.com), try it yourself, many others have already done so.

Where are Ivana’s reports?

• Ivana prefers to write in Spanish, so her website is http://ElMundoEnBici.com . Note that this also is just an easy to remember shortcut, it forwards to http://elmundoenbici.biketravellers.com .
• Do not forget that our penguin friend Pablito is also joining us and he makes his own reports as well, sometimes in English, mostly in Spanish, check out his website here: http://Pablito.biketravellers.com

What are those ‘Google Ads’ I see on many pages?

• These are small advertisements, supplied by Google. We do not choose them, the content is based on the content of the page, so a page about Alaska will give you ads about Alaska tours or land. It might show things we do not support, like drilling for oil in Alaska.
• Every time somebody clicks on them, we get a few cents, which helps to pay for our website costs. So if you are interested in the ads, please check tem out as you are helping us.
• Do not just click a lot of ads just to help us, as Google might ban our account if some people repeatedly click our ads from the same computer/IP address. So only check the ones that are interesting to you.

How & costs & support

How can you afford such a trip?

• We spend much less than you think, we saved some money the past years and might make some more on the way.

So, how much will you spend?

• North America will be the most expensive: until we reach Mexico, we will spend about $15 per day (together). This means less than $3000 in the first 6 months.
• Then from Mexico down it will probable be less than half of that.
• In total should be less than $10,000 together for the entire trip.

That is less than my parents spent on a luxury 2-week safari trip last year! How come you can live so cheap?

• We do not need much. We have our tent, so we do not need to pay for hotels. We camp out in the wild or at people’s lawn’s, so do not pay for expensive campsites. We will stay in cheap hostels in cities -in central America, you can get these for a few dollars-, but will also do a lot of Couchsurfing/Hospitality clubbing/ WarmShowering: staying with people for free, in return we will host them later.
• We cook ourselves, so all we need is some pasta, some veggies and some candy bars to get us through the day. We drink water we get from people or take it from streams and purify it with our Steripen. We recharge our batteries using our SolarSupra solar panel. We never buy bottled water, that is a waste of money and plastic.
• We do not have an expensive taste and have no space for souvenirs on our bikes, so all we take home are pictures and memories.
• Our sponsors supplied us with most of our gear, so we had little costs up front.

It is still a lot of money, don’t you have any other costs as well?

• We do not have kids, we do not have a car and have no debts, we never bought and will not buy anything we cannot afford. We have a house, but that is rented out so almost pays for itself.
• So things we need to pay are: food & drinks. Sometimes camping fees (mostly we camp in the wild or on people’s lawns); Internet connections along the way, spare parts for our bikes; replacements for clothes we wore out; park fees; visa fees; entry fees for places we want to visit etc.
• It is hard to plan exactly how much we will spend, but we want to see things along the way and will buy some dinners or breakfasts along the way when we are too tired or lazy to cook or think we deserved it after cycling another 1000km or a tough day. Basically we are on a tight budget, but will not let this stop us from enjoying the places we visit.

Is there any way we can support your trip?

• Yes! Many ways, first of all you can sign up for our newsletter or RSS feed. Forward them to others that might enjoy reading travel stories, stories about people and culture, cycling, environmental issues, America.
• Leave comments on the posts. We love to read them, they keep us going. Small notes from friends and strangers are huge boosts for our confidence and can help us through rough and difficult times.
• Just think of this website as a free interactive travel magazine subscription. If you enjoy reading our stories and seeing our photos, you can thank us by donating some money using the form on the right side of every post and page, using PayPal or credit card. Every small amount is welcome, just think what you would spend on a magazine or book.
• Check out the Google ads if there is something interesting for you (do not click them all just to help, see notes above).
• Link to our websites or specific reports or photos from your own website or blog. Add us to Stumble Upon, ReddIt, Digg etc. get the word out that it is possible to travel by bicycle!
• Invite us to speak in your town. We can give presentations about our trips, about climbing the 7 summits, cycling Asia, Bike Travelling or a photo presentation of the culture and nature of the 7 continents . We can charge admission fees or just ask for donations. We love to tell about our trips and spread knowledge about cycling and the environment.
• Buy something from our shops, see the links above. We get a small percentage of every item sold and you promote cycling!
• Invite us for dinner or to stay at your place or recommend addresses to sleep (friends, family) or even just places to pitch our tent
• Start cycling yourself!

We passed quite a few roadhouses and motels, that were either closed for the season or closed altogether. Seems that the combination of higher gas prices (increasing the costs for the generators and heating) and lower number of tourists (also partly because of higher gas prices) already has put many businesses out of business. Still some smaller business like the Cappucino house at the Gakona Junction seemed to survive. Shame that most clients never leave their car and stop to talk with the friendly ladies that run the wildly decorated place. Louise warned us for the many wild bears that were on the coming stretch and showed us some photos of a bear on the side of the road that apparently was not afraid of humans at all, taken a few days before…

We had stopped for some internet at Gakona Roadhouse, a nice historic place in a beautiful setting. It was comfortable to stay there, but the late evening sun convinced us to go a bit further and so we managed to see the beautiful sunsets over the Wrangell-StElias national park, with its 2 dominant peaks (from this side) Mt Drum and Mt Stanford.

We arrived late at our destination, a roadside pullout at Mile 24, which had toilets and nice free camping sites. When we arrived we saw a table with two open Ortlieb bags, but nobody around, even after I shouted in all directions! I called Ivana, who came running. She was already scared as it was getting dark and because of the many bear stories on the way. ‘Oh, is that all that is left of him?’ She asked in panic.

But soon a young US boy came out of the bushes, named Thimble. He had been watching the sunset and had forgotten to close his bags. His bike and tarp were a bit father away. We learned that he had been travelling with Nico and Jason, our Dalton Highway cycling buddies, but that both Nico and Thimble were sent back at the border because of previous minor arrests in the US. Nico had been nervous and ignored the STOP sign and then their backgrounds were checked as well as their bags. Jason was let through, but the others were denied access to Canada and had no option but to cycle back towards Alaska…

Of course this made Ivana more nervous, but we still managed to have a good sleep. The next morning, the weather was still nice and we headed in the direction of Slana, halfway on the so-called Tok-Cutoff highway. Just before leaving Ivana remembered that a bit earlier she had left her lightweight Vertical rain pants in the toilet and went to get it. we had been having breakfast just behind the toilets, but apparently one of the few RV’s that had stopped to use them, had taken the pants as they were gone! That was very bad news, not only were these pants very light and dried fast, but with the current rains and dropping temperatures, one wet day would be enough to get her soaking wet and hypothermic.

We passed a small place called Chistochina and asked in the first big farm if they had any spare rainpants that we could buy. They did not, but the owners of the Redeagle Lodge, Richard and Judy were very friendly and showed us around their new collection of wonderfully decorated lodges, to be opening next season. What impressed me most were the enormous solarpanels, heating all the water for the showers.

We continued to Slana, where the rain began to fall again when we arrived late. Slana had been a controversial place as the subsistence and hunting-gathering lifestyle of the community was threatened when the National park was formed. Suddenly the local people were not allowed to do what they had been done for centuries and many angry faces were created, resulting in the burning of the brandnew Ranger station (twice!). Now some kind of agreement that gives both parties freedom has been arranged and things have cooled off.

Just past Slana is a small ‘mom-and-pop-store’ called Midway Services. It is a very nice grocery with very reasonable prices, the first time we could get Snicker bas (the cyclist’s staple diet) for 65cts! When we entered the store, we saw 3 people, 2 men and one woman, looking tired, smoking on some benches.

‘Do you want to sleep here tonight?’, the man asked.

‘We are not sure yet’, we replied. We had seen the Campsite site outside and were looking for a protected place to camp, but as always we were also very careful about our budget.

‘Cause if you do, you can pitch your tent outside or you can sleep in the old bus in the back of the yard. And the price of the staying in the bus is…’ he paused a bit. ‘Free!’.

We looked at each other in disbelief and told him that we would love it. He took us to the old bus that was parked in the back, which was turned into a campervan. It was great, it had 3 beds, many seats and a table and even a 4-burner gas stove. He checked the gas, saw it was empty and refilled the bottle for us. Then he turned it on.

‘To make it a bit warmer’…

It was wonderful. They left the store open for us, so we could wash some clothes, charge some batteries and even take a shower. We were warmed by their generosity and trust, something we had encountered so many times by now in Alaska. We ended up staying 2 nights, resting on the day in between, writing updates, cleaning stuff. We spent some time in the store, listening to to many stories of all the locals coming in for their groceries and ice-cream (apparently the Rangers and many tourists never visit or even know of the place). The story of the week was the bear that had entered a few people’s back yards, taking some groceries. One guy had shot it once, but with a small gun only that had jammed after one shot. The bear was wounded but got away and now everybody was on the lookout and shared stories about guns and bears.

it is so wonderful to be away from the world politics for a while and get immersed in the local stories. Just like the people in flooding Nenana a few weeks before (though Nenana definitely was informed about Climate Change!), the Slanans did not care about Iraq or Zimbabwe. Their life was basic and community based, which was a delight to experience.

After our resting day we headed towards Tok, with the promise of restaurants and more shops The road was nice and we made good time as we even had some tailwind! This made the dozens of small hills a pleasure to climb as most downhills would get us far up the next uphill. We even saw a very rare animal (see photo below), though none of the feared bears entered our view.

We had already heard about the all you can eat breakfast at the Sourdough campground in Tok, but as they wanted to charge us $15 for a gravel campsite (discount, normally $20!), we headed into town and found out that you can camp for free in the back of the 24/7 Chevron gas station, perfect for cyclists! Only one more road to go in Alaska, this time to Canada, but would we be admitted?

Kowalski, Status report!

It was great to have a sunny day and catch a glimpse of Alaska’s beauty. We can only imagine what was hidden under the clouds the rest of the trip… Not too many tough hills this time, though it is never flat up here.

It started out ok, with some nice roads from Cantwell, but soon the gravel came back with full force. Ivana had a bad day, so I just stayed away from her; I bit on front or a bit in the back. That is usually the best thing to do, when one of us has an ‘angry day’, when all roads are terrible, the legs won’t work or rain seems to hit you every minute. I was actually enjoying this road a lot.

It was nice to be away from the main traffic again. almost no people live here, rental cars are not allowed to drive these roads and trucks have nowhere to go to here, so all cars you see are travellers or hunters. All of them wave back when we wave at them and many stop for a chat. The landscape is simply stunning: from high mountains (even though most were hidden in thick, rainy clouds) to taiga forests and age -old glaciers. We cycled through valleys, crossed big rivers, saw al kinds of wildlife and met friendly people. We got rained upon, almost froze our hands and feet, downhilled in the dark and found cyclists’ heaven, all in a few days. Almost too much to process. Pictures do not do justice, but I will share a few, together with some short stories from the road:

Unlike the Denali park road, this area is not protected, but it feels wilder. Not being protected also means that a lot of hunting is going on. We saw many big-bellied men with big 4×4 trucks, carrying smaller 4×4 vehicles in the back. My theory is that all the glamorous hunting magazines they have out here paint this perfect picture, but in reality, works needs to be done and you need to get active and your feet wet (literally) in order to actually approach animals close enough so they can shoot them with the big expensive guns and feel like a ‘real man’.

Instead many are just nice guys, who just stay in lodges and drink beer, a more harmless way of spending time with the buddies. Somehow, those trigger-happy fingers need to shoot something, so they aim at the only things that are close enough to the road and that are even more defenseless than the animals: road signs. Every road sign between Prudhoe Bay and Canada has holes in them.. (‘I think I hit it Jimbo!’)

We camped at an official BLM campground (Bureau fro Land managemant). These places are nicely situated, not too big and mostly for small vehicles and tents. No power-hookups and free Wifi, but nice, quiet places. As we are travelling on a budget, we asked some guys if they would mind sharing their spot (you pay a fee per site, not pp), but they were happy to have us and did not want our dollars.

Ivana spent an hour picking more berries, making enough blueberry jam for the next week, to go with our peanut butter sandwich breakfast.. We also met another biketraveller, Thomas from Germany. he had come from Vancouver in a few months, was now racing around Alaska and was planning to cycle down again, so he will probably catch up with us.

The only thing that I did not like on this part is that the eternal layer of clouds took away most of the views of the high Alaskan peaks and the old glaciers. Guess we will have to come back one day.

All Alaskans we meet tell us that it is the wettest and coldest summer in 40 years, climate is changing..

A new friend!

The next day we stopped to take a look at the Gracious House cafe as it was recommended by Thomas. We were not planning to eat anything, but the aroma of food convinced us in about 3 seconds and we both got a ‘Denali burger’. Then we noticed this little guy, sitting in the corner of the gift shop. Was this the Polar bear we had been looking for, our Arctic companion for our Antarctic friend Pablito?

We brought him out to the waittress who looked as hse had never seen him before. ‘Ehm, ok, ehh, 5 dollars?’. Sold. Pablito immediately too his new friends under his wings. we are not quite sure what his name is as he does not speak much and is a bit shy, but for now we will call him Pedrito, after Ivana’s grandfather.

We were eating when an retired couple came in. They were so joyous, and clearly so crazy about eachother, it was great to see and very catchy. Charles and Elizabeth live in Las Vegas and come up to Alaska every year I think. They drive one of those huge motorhomes, but just enjoy camping out on a high spot and then watching the wildlife pass them by. They shared a large icecream and were enjoying every bite of if. As we had re-calculated our food supply after hearing that there would not be any store before Tok, about 400km away, we asked the waitress if we could buy a loaf of bread. We could, for $6.

Elizabeth went outside and came back a while later/ I left you some food on your bikes’, she said. ‘We always bring too much in our big motorhome, and you need it much more than we do!’

We thanked her and finished our meal. But when we noticed the huge bag filled with cookies, beef jerky, peanut bars and a huge jar of peanut butter, we had to get back inside and than them again, it was like cyclist’s x-mas!

‘She has been like this ever since I met her’, Charles said. ‘So generous, that it why I love her. I am not too religious, but I do believe in that you reap what you sow’. ‘Karma?’, I said. ‘Yep, that’s another way of putting it.’

Though I prefer to be totally independent, it is great to meet such generous people who know the relative value of things to different people. Even more, it is great to meet people like Charles and Elizabeth, who have been crazy about eachother for decades and still enjoy and have fun together.

We were getting quite good at dodging rain clouds, but it was getting harder as the clouds were getting bigger and well, there was only one road to choose from… Se we got soaking wet once again and decided to camp at a wayside; a small pull-out with some toilets and a stream to get water, which we could purify with our Steripen. But before we reached it we were treated on a spectacular road. We were actually riding on top of an esker, a natural sinusoid ridge, shaped by glaciers. We are cycling on age-old geography (am I correct Mike?) and without any other vehicles on the rainbow-covered road this late in the evening we felt on a different planet.

The next morning we passed some beautiful areas, including some lakes that were known for its wildlife. We already had seen some caribou from far away, but suddenly we noticed 4 huge ones, close to the road. We stopped to take a picture, but the noise of an approaching car chased them away. We searched a bit but could not find them again. I stopped a kilometer or so ahead to wait for Ivana, when the caribou popped up out of the bushes, about 2 meters away from me. We both looked surprised at eachother en then they were away. Just before, we had been watching some geese and other birds in one of the lake when suddenly a big bald eagle zoomed past on the edge of the road, maybe 3 meters away from us at about eye level. It just briefly glanced at us when it floated past, not even moving its majestic wings. Like with the caribou, we did not have time to take our cameras out and do not have photos, but the images will be etched in our minds forever.

Rain was pouring down again and we fled inside the Maclaren River Lodge, where we saw the sign: all you can eat chili and soup, with bread, for 8 dollars! yeehaw, a buffet, the cyclists dream. They let us use the Wifi as well, so we could answer some emails in the middle of nowhere, while eating hot chili with bread for several hours. It was too cozy and it was already late when we left the lodge. We had to climb a big hill, more than 10km uphill, while the rain was coming down again. We were both chilled to the bone, but the plateau we were riding on now did not offer any shelter, so we continued. We had heard that there would be a long downhill, but before we reached it it was already getting dark. Ivana suffers more from the cold than me, but I managed to convince her that going down meant being in a warmer place and so we zoomed the last 15km down in one long descent. Through the dark, dodging potholes as we went. Ivana’s Santos bike still had light, which helped a lot, but mine had been broken since the flight in, so I had to concentrate hard to find my way on the gravel road.

We made it to Tangle Lakes campground and camped right beside a toilet building, with bear-proof containers to keep our food (and the bears) safe. We only cycled for about 2km the next morning when we saw a lodge. Low and behold, there was an all you can eat breakfast buffet! I think I ate 14 delicious blueberry pancakes, as well as a great tortilla, bread, fruit salad and many other things. the women from the kitchen came to ask ‘where we could leave all that food’, but we just pointed outside and said: we are cyclists…

The road was paved again from this point, but the hills were just as steep. It took us a few hours more to get to Paxson, the junction with the highway leading South. We had rough roads and were wet most of the time, but both felt a feeling of already missing the beautiful Denali Highway.

It cleared up for a moment, when we cycled close to the wonderful Paxson Lake, but soon the rain really came down hard and at the end of a long day we tried to find shelter near a large motel. It was totally deserted and all houses were closed. Ivana found an old very small church nearby, which had its doors unlocked. All houses nearby were empty, but a few houses away a man told us that the church was not used anymore as the owner had passed away, so we could stay. So we spent a nice and especially dry night, getting ready for more wonders of Alaska…

Kowalski! Status report!

This road was way tougher than expected, partly because of the weather, but also because of the many hills and the rough gravel. Average ascent per day was about 750m and the days were about 65km long. Here are the altitude profiles for those who wish to venture here, it is still very much recommended, enjoy!